NMCC ACADEMY V NLCC ACADEMY SUNDAY 15TH AUGUST

With the winner progressing to the Dev League Final both clubs were desperate to win and avoid the 3rd and 4th place play off.

The toss was going to be important , as batting first on a wicket that had been covered for the best part of 3 days and was damp in patches was never going to be easy.

Skipper Zulfie lost and to no surprise we were invited to bat.

1st ball of the innings Connor feet still stuck in the "vale de lobo " sand gets a great nut that hits middle and leg 0 for 1

Will Crackers glides one through gully for four then gets one that takes off one a  length and nicks behind 2 for 4 at the end of the first over .

Zulfie survives a close lbw shout and a caught behind mistiming a pull off his forearm.He and Amir put together a partnership of sorts worth 33 .

Zulf being patient and pulling anything short likewise Amir putting away the rare bad one .Its fair to say that "North ' s" bowling whilst far from hostile was in great channels , with only one wide and one no ball conceded in the entire innings.

Amir holes out for 13 in over 9 , enter Dazza  to show  how it should be done on a slow track - patience, patience - wait for the bad one and then put it away.   He set a great example by watching the ball intently ,  deciding on his shot really late , playing each ball on its merits .His 49 was invaluable(seniors retire at 50), only offering one half chance an uppish drive through the covers which fortunately the North manged to drop. 

Zulf perished in over 14 mistiming a pull  -  caught on the boundary .William "SILVER FOX" occupied the crease for a  while  before holing out at mid off for 12.

Enter Josh Alibhai who was the only  C olt to post a score  -  39 , including a booming 6 into Calthorpe ,   his  runs  turned out to be precious  in helping us post a  defendable target score .

James Y S , Ben Varma , and Charlie Hierons all came and went , that left Josh with no 11 Olly Turrell . Josh holed out in over 38 , 161 all out

WAS IT ENOUGH ?

Ben Varma (snake charmer) and Olly Turrell open the bowling , whilst they didn't bowl badly the North openers both enjoyed the extra pace on the ball and put away the bad one .

after 8 overs they were 35 with out  loss and looking comfortable. Change of tactic , the talk before the game was about taking the pace of the ball so on  c ame the " S ilver  Fox" bowling less than medium pace ( he did his job ) and Connors slow left arm. William 8 overs 4 maidens 3 for 24 , all solid catches from Josh , Olly and Darren , and Connor 8 overs 4 maidens 1 for for 19 changed the game .Then Amir steaming in , picks up the crucial wicket of their best senior trapped LBW to one that kept low ,removes the middle stump of the no 6 with a beauty ,  Zulfie takes an international standard slip catch , add to that a run out off a slight misfield and after 31 overs they are 123 for 8 GAME ON.

The 9 and 10 begin to look comfortable , the Midd Supporters starting to despair as the game swung back to North .  Then the break through -  a thick outside edge  from the 9 off Zulf ' s effort ball Connor diving forward at gully takes the catch - much celebration on and off the pitch. 

151 for 9  North  need 11 runs we need 1 wicket. The i r young no 11 walks to the crease (poor chap) and man a ges to see off the rest off Zulf ' s over .

With Darren now steaming in from the other end their senior no 10 mis times a drive and elects to take the single to expose the no 11 with 3 balls left in the over .

2 balls later in a brave attempt to keep the now rampant kiwi out,  number 11  lobs one up to short extra cover Connor makes no mistake with the catch

VICTORY .

The main difference between the sides , we took all our catches, some were first class .

Special mention to Brian "OZ" the grounds men who worked his nuts off preparing the ground .   

Top Effort Boys  throughout the 6 week campaign , now the Final V Hornsey Sunday 5th September , av ai labilty e -mail will go out soon ,

Steve Nurse .